CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Vallis
Fallen Star Territory
As soon as I stepped foot back onto the world of my birth I was sucked back into my body as if someone reversed a leaf blower.
A wave of twisting nausea crashed over me and I squeezed my eyes shut, desperate not to think of the confined place I was once again locked inside of.
Only the dirt wasn’t there. Not even the scent of the scraps that had fallen into the coffin with me.
Something liquidy sloshed nearby and my heart thudded against my ribs.
Sweat covered my face and neck and I had to force myself not to gulp air like there was no tomorrow. Hyperventilating wouldn’t help anyone.
“Stop it you stupid bear!” Pami’s high-pitched keen broke through the sloshing. “I banished you once! Don’t make me do it again!”
“GOOD LUCK WITH THAT!” The bear roared. “I’LL TOSS YOU INTO THE WATER WITH YOUR LITTLE CANDLES. WAIT? YOU DON’T HAVE ANY OUT HERE, DO YOU? WHAT? ARE YOU CARRYING THEM UP YOUR BUTT?”
At least I knew Finn the bear didn’t abandon me on purpose. If she banished him once, she might do it again. I needed to think fast but the sun was beating down on me, burning my skin and penetrating my eyelids as if they were damn near translucent.
“You foul-mouth, sour-breathed, creatin!” Pami swore.
“You swallow-faced daughter of a dung beetle!” Finn came back at her.
I blinked. One, twice, three times. I had to see something.
Whether it hurt or not I had to figure out where the hell we were because all I smelled was Pami and the water.
We were on the water, and they were having a schoolyard argument.
I couldn’t tell Mori that my location had changed.
I was fucked. I was tied to a boat and fucked.
I squinted against the bright sunlight and had to close my eyes before I even got a good look at my decimated body.
If Pami dumped me into the water, I was a dead bear.
I’d never manage to swim back up to the surface.
“Maybe the dead bear will figure out how to tell them?” my bear chimed into my thoughts.
Every reflex inside me told me to struggle against the ropes but the moment I struggled my captor would know that I was awake.
“Why are you arguing with a ghost?” Another voice cut into the mix. This one was further away. That was it! We had to be on Moonbottom Lake. She was taking us out to the little island in the center of the lake where the other woman waited. But why?
“Oh, shut up you ancient prune!” Pami smartassed back to her. “Shut up or I’ll drown your sacrifice!”
“My sacrifice?” the woman laughed, a loud full belly sound. She was a bear. At least I’d put my money on her being a bear with a laugh like that.
“Sharon Claudis,” my bear chimed into my thoughts.
Something hit me hard. Not aloud or physically. No. Inside my head. Other people were on their way. I knew it because my mate knew it. The knowledge made me flinch.
“I see someone has joined the party!” Pami laughed.
She sounded even more deranged than before. I squinted at her again. She was a whisp of her former self as if all her magic had knackered out. Once upon a time, I might’ve tried to reason with her but their comes a time in every tyrant’s life that they are beyond reason.
“Hurry up!” the other woman shouted to her. “We don’t have all day! I told you I have my own things to do! If you want to eat his magic, you better hurry up or I’m not showing you how to do this.”
“Hold your fucking horses, Sharon,” Pami rolled her eyes. “That bitch just won’t stop rushing me. I’ve been saving you for when I needed your magic. Broug’s was holding me just fine until your pet bear bit me, Vallis. That means its time to cut your life short.”
Sharon Claudis? Here? I knew she came this way but I never imagined Pami would want to work with her.
“Why do you need her then?” I spat out the words.
“Because for whatever reason you refuse to waste away,” Pami said and clicked her tongue at me. “I’m tired of waiting for you to die of natural causes.”
“FINN! I came with Colton’s brother! Go find him!” I hissed.
It was too late to keep quiet if I ever wanted to see my mate again. I didn’t say Mori’s name just in case Sharon put two and two together.
Finn disappeared leaving me alone with Pami.
We weren’t far from the island now. I wasn’t sure how my body would react if I forced it to swim or run but I had to do something.
I wasn’t as strong as I once was, but I had more to fight for than ever before.
Plus, I’d been eating like a Nightshade Bear at every opportunity. That had to count for something, right?
My bear crouched low inside his inner sanctum, gathering up his strength and muscles.
He forced his way out of me, making me contort and shift.
Pami moved to crash into me and keep me on the boat.
It was a small boat. More like shrunk down row boat than anything else.
She crashed into me, finding fur and teeth and I rolled hard.
We both crashed into the water. Ashore, on the island, Sharon Claudis laughed her fluffy ass off.
I’d deal with her later. For now, it was time to end Pami’s reign.
She struck at my shoulders and neck with the heels of her palms. The strikes hurt but I was beyond pain now.
I’d spent too long locked up in a coffin to be bothered by her hits and she was too nervous to go for her daggers or the potion vials at her side.
Besides, the potions and powders were probably ruined by the water.
I managed to climb on top of her flailing body.
She bit my back leg but we both sank down.
I held my breath, praying that I could outlast her in holding my breath.
If I could get her blood oxygen low enough I might have a chance to win the fight.
She bit me again, elf teeth tearing into my hind leg.
I swiped at her, catching the side of her face.
I prayed that Broug was mad enough to forgive me for the flesh I took from the woman he once loved.
Her blood fled into the water and I thought it was pity the lake didn’t have sharks.
I kept my senses as keen as possible as I came up for air.
I spotted a glimpse of Sharon, sitting in a lawn chair, watching us.
It had to be her. She only had one hand and the air steamed around her chest like it was dry ice.
As long as she stayed out of the way, I’d probably be okay.
I could fight Pami until Mori got here to help. Maybe I’d win without her.
My mate was eating steak in an unusual sauce.
My mouth watered as the flavors danced over his tongue.
Soon. Soon. I told myself again and again.
Pami bit me on the foot and I swiped again.
This time her head flung back and for half a second I thought I succeeded in breaking her neck. If only I had been so lucky!
My muscles were tiring quickly. Too quickly.
Whether or not Pami clung onto me like I was her safety raft, I had to get to shore before I drowned.
So I swam, doing my best to keep her head under water.
I needed her as weak as possible before we reached the shore.
I needed her gasping for air and sputtering out water before she could find her air to speak and cast spells.
Sharon moved her chair back and I blinked. Why wasn’t she helping her friend? Then again, if you asked Lero, he’d probably say Sharon Claudis didn’t have friends.
“If you can’t conquer him, you can’t sacrifice him,” Sharon shouted as my paws touched dirt.
I dug in my front claws and kicked at Pami with my hind legs, forcing her to stay in the water.
The edges of the world were black, but I kept kicking, trying to scratch and gouge her even as the universe decided that it was my fate to die on the shores of Moonbottom Lake.
Somewhere close by a wolf snarled and I prayed that they didn’t sacrifice him too. Enough innocent people had died without them adding some poor wolf into the mix.